The Scrutiny Committee meeting was held on 24th July to debate the concerns raised by residents regarding the transportation and rendering of animal waste by-products. SOS Resident Action Group members and Councillors attended the meeting and were able to voice their continued concerns about the negative impact to their lives from the operations of the plant.

The Chief Executive, Tony Reeves wrote a letter to MP's in April 2012 to raise awareness regarding the lack of regulation of the industry. Mr. Reeves has been actioned to follow up on his letter and report back to the Committee in January 2013.

The Council is appointing a specialist environmental consultant to determine ways to reduce the negative impact to the local community regarding odour escaping the site boundary and use of best available technique (BAT) by the firm. Residents believe that the environmental permit is too relaxed and enables Omega Proteins to wriggle out of requirements to ensure equipment is operating as it should.

Resident believe that BAT framework is not in anyway robust enough and will be pushing the Council Offices to ensure changes are made to national guidelines and the existing Environmental Permit. There are strong concerns that the amount of throughput exceeds equipment capacity and as a result, the horrendous odour breaches site boundaries often reaching Thornton Village and Denholme Clough.

Petition to Full Council - March 2012

Stop Omega Stink Resident Action Group successfully delivered the petition and supporting speech to highlight concerns raised regarding the transportation and rendering of animal waste at the Bradford Full Council Meeting on 27 March 2012. Over 240 residents of Thornton, Well Heads, Keelham and Denholme signed the petition and as a result the matter has been forwarded to the Environment and Waste Management Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Many Councillors are discussing the issues we raised at both a local and national level.

The following issues continue to degrade residents’ well being and cause unnecessary stress. Despite Appeals Decision 2010 and numerous complaints made to Planning, Environment and Highways Offices, residents believe the following issues have not been adequately resolved at these levels and as result continue to negatively impact our community and the environment:

Excessive HGV movements

Out of Hours HGV movements

Out of Hours Plant operation

Effective monitoring of HGV movements to and from the plant including necessary signage of vehicles displaying the company's name by the Planning Offices

Smells from rotting category 1 animal waste emitted from passing HGVs to and from the plant

Spillages of category 1 animal waste due to inadequate loading and sealing of trailers by the recently liquidation of Alba Transport, a subsidiary of the Leo Group

Smells from the rendering operations encroaching on residential boundaries thus negatively impacting resident’s rights to enjoy their homes and gardens

Invasive plume of steam/smoke from rendering operations that are often seen grounding on adjacent agricultural fields

Decrease in highway safety at the Keelham School junction

Increase use of HGVs along Back Heights, Rock Lane, Egypt and Black Dyke Lane

Inadequate Environmental Permist, use of Best Available Techniques by the plant and lack of enforcement by the Environmental offices

Slow and/or inadequate Odour Testing and Dispersion Modelling in a variable windy area conducted by Omega Proteins and the Environmental Offices.

Residents do not believe that the processes in place to enforce the Appeals Conditions are robust and quick enough to protect resident rights and highway safety.

The firm continues to avoid adequate enforcement, penalities and fines at the expense of tax payers' monies and council resources.

If you too would like us to voice your concerns on your behalf, contact us and we will add you to our distribution list.